


We Keep On Stumbling

by shesbreathless



Series: levi gets stabbed au [2]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, levi being a bit of a little shit, nico trying his best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-21 08:45:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19371346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesbreathless/pseuds/shesbreathless
Summary: He looks out the window and sighs as best as he can with his still aching lung. He’s going home, he’s okay. The worst part is over.As it turns out, recovering from being stabbed is not fun. Like, at all.





	We Keep On Stumbling

**Author's Note:**

> I guess this can be read as its own fic, but it makes much more sense if you read the previous one!

It’s quiet, almost too quiet. Levi is sitting down in his favourite armchair, surrounded by pillows and soft blankets, but he feels uneasy. He’s pretty sure he’s not alone in the room, but he can’t see anyone else. All he knows is that the back of his neck is prickling like somebody is staring at him.

He slowly looks to the left, towards the window, and he’s met with the sight of the trees swaying gently to the wind. It couldn’t be more peaceful, but Levi still feels like something is wrong.

A pang of pain suddenly shoots out of Levi’s side. He presses one hand to the spot, ready to just go back to his studying and forget about it, but it only hurts more when he touches it. He takes a deep breath and crosses his legs underneath himself, hoping that the change in position will help.

Everything quiets back down after that, except for a weird tickle going down his side. Annoyed, Levi goes to scratch it, but his fingers meet something warm and liquid. The feeling of being watched increases.

Levi frowns and looks down at his fingers. They’re covered in something dark that’s dripping down onto the armchair. Another sharp pang of pain knocks the breath out of his chest, leaving him gasping and holding onto his side with both hands.

The pain is now more of a burning, and Levi can’t breathe, and there is still someone staring at him somewhere, and they keep getting closer.

He tries calling out for help, but all that comes out of his throat is a choked sound. He can hear his blood rushing in his ears, heart pumping fast and erratically. He’s going to die alone and scared, and nobody will find him for days, and he doesn’t want to-

“Ah!”

Levi sits up, struggling to catch his breath, pain in his side now dull and fading away. He focuses his eyes on his surroundings, realizing that he’s in his hospital bed, and nobody is trying to kill him. He quickly pats himself down, but all he feels is the bump of the bandages over the wound on his flank.

That was one hell of a nightmare. The feeling of being watched hasn’t left completely, but Levi knows for a fact that there is nobody else in the room with him. There is sunlight coming in through the blinds on the window, so it must be morning by now.

Levi gives up on going back to sleep, checking in with his other body parts sending signals for him to hear. His bladder is pretty insistent.

Pushing the back of his head into his pillow, he eyes the empty hospital room and considers how far the bathroom is and how much pain it would cause him to reach it. He ends up deciding that he cannot wait, and starts the process of getting up.

A pillow and his blanket fall to the ground when he finally puts one foot on the ground, but he makes it to the bathroom with a sigh of relief. He sits down on the toilet and props his elbows on his knees, burying his face into his hands.

He’s tired, more tired than he ever thought was possible. The endless shifts he’s had to work through as an intern are nothing compared to how heavy he feels right now, and he wants nothing more than to sleep for the next twelve days.

The only problem with that is that he can’t sleep. He’s been trying to stay asleep for longer than twenty minutes at a time, but he keeps getting woken up by the pain in his side and wrist suddenly flaring up, or a nurse loudly walking into his room, or his mind unhelpfully supplying him with horrible nightmares.

It's been hard, coming to terms with what happened. With how recently he fully embraced the fact that he’s gay, he’s never had to deal with homophobes or any negative repercussions because of who he is, really. Well, until now.

The hateful words and the violence, just because he stood a bit too close to Nico in the restaurant, make a mix of anger and… shame, swell in his chest.

He knows it wasn’t his fault, he knows he’s not the one who should feel bad about it, but he still can’t shake the thoughts that, maybe, if they had been more discreet, if they had been aware that somebody else might not have liked seeing them together, they could have avoided all of it.

Somewhere deep inside himself, something – maybe pride – protests, tries to tell him that it’s not going to happen, the spiral of shame. He promised himself he wouldn’t, but it’s hard when taking deep breaths still makes him feel like his lung is going to burst.

With a sigh and a shake of his head, Levi is at least glad that the flurry of confused thoughts in his head seems to have eased the pangs of pain in his side. He flushes the toilet and shuffles over to the sink, washes his hands, then finally goes back to his room.

Nico is there, stuffing clothes into a bag that doesn’t stand a chance at holding them all. Levi smiles to himself, stomach fluttering happily, shutting the bathroom door behind himself with a click.

“Hi,” Nico notices him, one knee on the bag to desperately try closing it. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” Levi grimaces, rubbing his eyes with closed fists.

Nico hums in sympathy, finally managing to zip up the bag. He walks over to where Levi is sitting on the side of the bed, a stack of clothes in his arms. He sets them down beside Levi and pats them.

“Get dressed,” he says. “I convinced them to discharge you today instead of tomorrow.”

Levi is pleasantly surprised, and he doesn’t need to be told twice. He awkwardly shuffles out of his hospital gown and actually manages to pull his own pants up, but he has to stop and consider his options when the thought of lifting his arms to put on his shirt makes him pale.

Nico has moved to the other side of the bed to continue packing up Levi’s stuff, but it’s obvious that he’s watching Levi struggle, just waiting for him to ask for help.

Levi thinks about not doing that, about pushing through the pain and just getting it over with, but he’s too tired to be so difficult. Also, Nico has assured him that there’s nothing else besides taking care of him that he wants to do right now, and Levi wants to believe him.

“Uhm, Nico?” Levi mumbles.

Nico perks up and walks over, a question written in his eyes. Levi just hold his shirt up, silently asking him to help him put it on, and Nico quickly complies. He slides it over Levi’s arms and down his back, chuckles when his head gets stuck inside, settling his hands on his hips when he’s done.

“Thanks,” Levi whispers, looking up at him with a small smile.

“Of course,” Nico leans down and catches his lips in a kiss.

It’s sweet and chaste, and it’s everything Levi needs right now. He tries to open up and deepen it, but Nico pulls back, pecks his lips once, twice, then steps back towards Levi’s bag, leaving him to slip on his own shoes.

He doesn’t have much stuff laying around, actually, but a week-long stay in the hospital is bound to create some clutter. His collection of fruity candles definitely had to come with him, no doubt.

“Let’s go home,” Nico smiles, shouldering the bag and extending one hand to Levi.

“You’re secretly enjoying every minute of this,” Levi accuses, standing up and lacing their fingers together.

“I enjoy every minute with you,” Nico answers, dipping down to kiss Levi’s forehead.

Levi rolls his eyes and sighs, but he can’t hold back his happy grin. He steps forward and tugs on Nico’s arm, eager to walk out of this hospital for good and finally go home, maybe get a decent night’s sleep. He misses the huge amount of pillows he’s accumulated on Nico’s bed.

The sudden change from the quiet of his room to the usual chaos of the hospital makes Levi lose his footing for a second, so he holds on tighter to Nico’s arm and lets him guide both of them away. He meets a few people he knows’ eyes, but he doesn’t stop to talk to any of them. He’s tired.

The moment that makes Levi’s nose turn up is when they both move in a different direction once they finally reach the front entrance. He looks up at Nico with a confused expression, and Nico stares back with one eyebrow raised.

“Taxi?” Nico asks.

“But it’s such a short walk,” Levi argues.

“You’re hurt,” Nico says easily.

They keep staring at each other for a few seconds, while other people walk around them and cars speed down the road. Levi is convinced that some fresh air could only do him good, but Nico looks so genuinely worried that he gives in and follows him anyway.

“You know I’m okay, though, right?” Levi wants to make sure as they wait for a car to stop.

“Of course,” Nico smiles, opening the taxi door for him. “I just want to get you home.”

Levi’s upturning stomach settles at that. He nods and sits down, relaxing against the seat as Nico talks with the driver. He looks out the window and sighs as best as he can with his still aching lung. He’s going home, he’s okay. The worst part is over.

-

“Everything you need is within arm’s reach,” Nico explains, looking down at Levi with his hands on his hips.

Levi is, indeed, surrounded by all kinds of stuff. He has bottles upon bottles of water sitting on the bedside table, snacks in the drawer, his phone is plugged in, and the remote control for the tv on the wall is in his hand. None of that is what he particularly wants right now, though.

He tilts his head and pats the space next to him, silently asking Nico to sit down on the bed with him. Nico checks his watch and shuffles his feet nervously. Levi is about to ask him if something’s wrong, but he digs one knee on the bed before he can say anything.

“Alright, I do have some time before I have to go back to work,” Nico agrees.

Levi smiles happily at him and sits up so that he can get the cuddle he’s been craving. He wraps his arms around Nico’s waist and leans his head on his chest, ear pressed to his peck. He’s warm and firm and everything Levi wanted.

“You sure you’re good?” Nico quietly asks, dropping a kiss on his head.

“More than good,” Levi quips.

Nico hums and holds him with an arm around his shoulders, one hand rubbing up and down his back. If Levi tried hard enough, he could fall asleep like this. He definitely will at some point in the near future, but there is something else attracting his attention right now.

He walks the fingers of his uninjured hand up from Nico’s hip and over his belly, towards the middle of his chest, around his neck, until he can bury them in the soft hair behind his ear. Nico looks down and Levi barely has to lift his head for their lips to connect.

It’s a deep kiss right from the start, and Levi loses himself in it immediately. Nico holds Levi’s face with both hands and guides it side to side to change the angle, tipping it backwards to get even closer. Levi makes a sound in the back of his throat and uses the leverage on Nico’s shoulders to hoist himself up and sit on his lap.

He can almost forget that he just got back from the hospital after being a patient and not a doctor for a change, if Nico continues to bite his lower lip like that. He feels like this is what both of them need, after going through all of that together. Levi knows it can’t have been easy on Nico, seeing him like that.

With a little complaining coming from his wounded side, Levi grinds his hips down towards Nico’s, lowering his other arm to slide his fingers underneath Nico’s shirt. The bandage around his wrist catches on the fabric and makes all of it less than smooth, but he’s sure they can work with it.

Except for the fact that Nico chuckles and breaks the kiss.

“What are you doing?” he asks, brushing the hair off Levi’s forehead.

Levi ignores him, going for showing rather than telling. He leans down to kiss him again, finally managing to lift his shirt and get his hands on his glorious abs. He tugs the shirt upwards to hint that he wants it off, but Nico pushes a gentle hand against his chest to stop him.

“Wait,” he says.

“What?” Levi huffs, more than annoyed at this point.

“We can’t,” Nico cups Levi’s face and brushes a thumb over his cheekbone.

“Of course we can, we just have to be… you know, gentle.”

Nico opens and closes his mouth a few times, then just shakes his head and drops a gentle kiss on Levi’s lips. “Let’s not push our luck.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Levi rolls his eyes. “It’s not like I’m dying. Not anymore, at least.”

“Levi, I said no.”

Levi freezes. Nico’s tone stings, and the fact that he won’t look him in the eye makes something ugly spread in his belly. He awkwardly lets go of Nico’s clothes and climbs off of him, back into his cocoon on his side of the bed. He suddenly wants nothing more than to be alone.

“Sorry,” he mumbles.

“No, it’s okay,” Nico shakes his head. “Look, I’ve got to go back to the hospital. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Levi nods.

Nico hesitates for a second, then sighs and bends his head to quickly kiss Levi’s cheek. After that, Levi only has time to look up before he disappears beyond the bedroom door, leaving it ajar.

That was a thing, then. Levi scratches his head and looks around, willing the embarrassment to fade away. He doesn’t want to think too much about it, or make a big deal out of most likely nothing, so he mentally shakes the bad thoughts off and grabs his phone.

He loses himself in his social media accounts, and he’s extremely uncomfortable in the way he’s leaning back against the wall behind him, but he can’t be bothered to move. The mindless scrolling almost lulls him to sleep, until his phone buzzes in his hands.

When he looks down at it he’s met with a worried text from his mother. He quickly types out an answer that will soothe her without giving her too much information, then turns the phone off before she can call him in a panic.

It’s not like he doesn’t want his mother to know how he’s doing, but he knows that she would completely lose it if she knew the whole extent of what happened to him. He’d told her that he’d had an accident in the hospital and that he’s staying at a friend’s house, and that had been it. It’s not entirely lying, surely.

Without the distraction of the internet, he’s forced to acknowledge the rumbling of his stomach. He sighs and considers the healthy snacks he knows Nico stuffed in the bedside table, but he’s not in the mood for that right now. He wants some cereal, he decides.

He climbs off the bed and slowly shuffles over to the kitchen, taking in how quiet the apartment is when he’s by himself. That hasn’t happened often, since the few times he’d been here without Nico, he’d taken advantage of the silence to sleep as much and as hard as he could.

The first stop is by the fridge, where he considers the few – way too many – options he has for milk. He settles for the one Nico has started buying just for him, then steps over to the cupboard to get the cereal out. He’s the only one who eats it, so there’s only one box.

With a smirk, he thinks about how evident his influence is in this apartment, and it sends a small spark of pride through him. What, he likes having a place in somebody else’s house. Specifically, Nico’s.

He sets the cereal and milk on the table, then turns on his heels to look for a bowl. He knows they’re in a cupboard somewhere, but he can’t remember which one. He opens a few, only finding glasses and plates, until there’s only one left. The problem is that it’s also the highest one.

It wouldn’t be a problem, normally, when he could just stretch, maybe jump to get what he needs, but in his condition he’s having a hard time thinking of a way to get to his goal without injuring himself. The thought of calling Nico to complain about the layout of his kitchen crosses his mind for a second.

He rolls his eyes and wills himself to just get over it. He’s perfectly fine, he can grab a fucking bowl for his cereal, and he certainly doesn’t need help to do it.

Maybe a chair could be useful, but then he would be too far away from the cupboard. Levi sighs and just goes for it. He hops onto the counter, then kneels on it, and finally reaches up to open the cupboard door. There it is, the small collection of bowls.

He grabs one and happily retrieves his hand, already tasting his glorious self-made meal of most likely stale cereal. The best kind. It would all be happening soon, if it weren’t for the fact that the bowl he grabbed doesn’t come by itself, instead bringing the whole stack with it.

In just a second Levi finds himself with bowls falling on him and crashing to the ground, breaking into a million pieces. The surprise makes him jerk backwards, gasping in fear when realizes there is nothing holding him back. He feels the pain before it actually comes.

The injured hand shoots out to break the fall instinctively, but the first thing to hit the ground is his ass. The impact knocks the breath out of him, and he’s left sitting in a pool of ceramic shards, gasping for air, a white bowl still firmly held in his hand. He sets it down next to him.

Adrenaline is pumping through him, making his heart race, so Levi doesn’t notice how much his everything hurts until a few minutes later.

“Ouch,” he breathes.

He cradles his arm against his chest and moans in pain, rocking back and forth until he doesn’t feel like throwing up anymore. He doesn’t even want to look down at himself, too worried that he’s going to see blood or bowl pieces stuck in his legs or something.

“Okay, alright,” Levi whispers after a few minutes of lulling himself back to a state of minor pain.

Slowly, he quickly checks himself, sighing happily when nothing looks wrong. He bends his legs and shifts from side to side, checking his muscles and bones for any worrying pains. No more than usual. Good, he guesses.

He starts the process of standing up, reaching out and using his healthy hand to grab the counter and pull himself up. His legs don’t collapse under him, so he takes a step to the side. His ass hurts, but it’s nothing he can’t survive. All in all, he’s alive.

The bowl is still sitting right where he left it, almost mocking him. In an act of defiance, he leaves it right where it is, along with the pieces of its broken kind, and slides one hand into the cereal box to eat some straight from it. He convinces himself it tastes better like this.

For the second time in less than ten minutes, Levi thinks about calling Nico, but he stops himself. What good would it do? He’s fine, he can move all of his limbs with no problem, he’s not bleeding. He doesn’t need Nico’s help.

Sure, the feeling only lasts until he decides he wants to take a shower to wash the hospital grime off. He stands in front of the mirror completely naked, picking at one corner of the huge plaster on his ribs. He’s trying to think of a way to get around the damn thing without taking it off.

There is no way of keeping just his side out of the stream of water, so he has to settle for awkwardly splashing water on himself, half-heartedly rubbing soap under his arms, and leaning back to wash his hair with only one hand. It’s the least satisfying shower he’s ever taken.

Levi almost slips as soon as he steps out, missing the bathmat completely and sliding on the tiles with his wet feet. He catches himself, almost bringing everything sitting on the counter down with him. He doesn’t, though, and that’s all that matters.

“Fucking hell,” he quietly curses to himself.

He does quick work of towelling himself dry, both body and hair, then steps back out into the living room, happily naked. He stands in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips, looking around and thinking of something to do. He could go for a nap.

The phone chooses that exact moment to start ringing loudly, even though Levi was sure to have turned it off. He runs back to the bedroom, reaching the phone before it stops ringing. Nico’s name flashes on the screen.

“Hello?”

The sound of ambulance sirens and people screaming answers him.

“Nico?” Levi calls out, immediately worried.

“Hi, yes, sorry,” Nico finally speaks. “I wanted to see how you were doing.”

Levi sits down on the bed and glances at his arm. If he doesn’t think about it too much, it almost doesn’t hurt anymore.

“I’m great,” he nods, even though nobody can see him. “Just had a shower, actually.”

“Good, that’s good. Wait a second-“ he speaks louder over the noise. “Link, you need me?”

“Oh, tell him I said hi!”

They’ve been through enough together for that to be appropriate by now, Levi thinks. He can’t exactly forget how Link had routinely checked up on him while he was staying in the hospital, no matter how much Nico told him there was no need. The gratitude was evident in his eyes, anyways.

“Sure, he says hi back,” Nico rushes. “Oh, wow, that’s definitely a broken arm.”

Levi feels panic shoot through him before he remembers that Nico doesn’t know what happened to him earlier, so it’s not his arm he’s talking about. That means there’s some kind of emergency at the hospital, though, which sounds more than interesting to Levi’s bored ears.

“Trauma coming in?” he asks, brushing a hand through his wet hair.

“Yeah, huge street fight,” Nico answers, obviously distracted.

“Nice,” Levi nods, and it would sound weird to anybody who’s not a doctor. “Need a hand?”

Nico focuses back on the conversation at that. “No, you stay right where you are.”

“I’m sure I would be more helpful there than here doing nothing all day.”

“I’m serious, Levi,” Nico says, harsh.

“Me too.”

There’s a pause in the conversation there, more shouts and loud noises coming through the line. Nico sighs, moving the phone away from his face to talk to someone close to him. Levi can’t hear clearly what he says, but Link’s voice answers him.

“I bet you guys could use somebody who’s already spent so much time in Ortho with you,” Levi suggests nonchalantly.

Nico sighs, and Levi can basically see him rolling his eyes.

“C’mon, I can be there in te-“

“Can’t you just do what you’re told for once?” Nico snaps.

Levi blinks and opens his mouth to say something, but he can’t think of an appropriate answer. He definitely thought the tone of this conversation was way more playful than this, but apparently they’re arguing or something.

“Excuse me?” Levi keeps his own voice as calm as possible.

“Don’t do anything dumb, please.”

That definitely rubs Levi the wrong way. He takes it personally and he does it fast, hanging the phone in Nico’s metaphorical face. The quiet he’s left with doesn’t feel better, but at least it’s not insulting him.

A few seconds go by, half of Levi hoping that Nico will call back, but it doesn’t happen. Nodding to himself, he sets the phone down and starts rummaging in the drawer that was unofficially assigned to him, his clothes spilling out of it by now.

He pointedly ignores how much he likes the thought of having a drawer for himself, because right now he’s mad and he’s on a mission.

Getting dressed doesn’t take long, and before he knows it, he’s on his way to the hospital. He might be slightly limping from the fall he took and his hair is still more than damp, but he won’t let that stop him.

The walk is a short one, the streets thankfully clear from any traffic. Levi can see the turn he has to take before coming face to face with the hospital’s entrance, but he sees something else before that. In the distance, the restaurant and the pavement in front of it, the exact one on which a crazy man stabbed him.

Levi slows down, a hand instinctively coming up to his side, cradling the area covered by the bandages. He takes a deep breath and most likely imagines it, but a dull pain comes to the surface under his hand.

He looks to the side, cursing under his breath when he notices that the closest crosswalk is right in front of the restaurant.

“It’s okay,” he tells himself as he comes closer and closer. “It’s okay, it’s okay…”

A girl appears out of nowhere, sporting a t-shirt with the restaurant’s logo on it and a huge, forced smile.

“Hi!” she chirps way too loudly. “Do you want to come in for a taste of-“

“Sorry, I’m in a hurry,” Levi mumbles, almost running by now.

She says something else but he’s not listening. He glances at the pavement and notices a few splotches of something dark, but he refuses to put too much thought into it. The traffic light changes to green just as he gets to it, so he sprints his way across the street, leaving the chatty girl behind him.

He calms down a bit when he gets safely to the other side, finally being able to take a full breath without feeling like he’s going to faint. He thinks about turning back to take a look, but he decides against it. He shakes himself and keeps walking towards the emergency entrance of the hospital.

As promised, it’s full of people running everywhere. Most of them are doctors and nurses, but there are a few lost looking patients walking aimlessly as well. All in all, it’s a big overwhelming mess.

“Get out of the way!” somebody shouts, a group of people wheeling a gurney in.

Levi steps to the side and right into a bed occupied by a patient that’s being tended to by Dr. Hunt. Levi’s gaze travels from his focused face to his bloody hands, down to the huge knife firmly planted into the patient’s abdomen.

All blood immediately leaves Levi’s face. His ears start ringing and his vision goes dark at the edges, but somehow Dr. Hunt’s voice still carries through the noise in his head. Levi’s eyes flit up to look at him, focusing on his stern expression.

“Schmitt, sit down,” is what he’s telling him, and Levi nods, walking backwards until his back hits a wall he can slide down.

There is a dull pain pounding in his head, and he’s immediately afraid of another seizure, even though Dr. Shepherd had assured him it wouldn’t happen anymore. Instead, he focuses on breathing as deeply as he can with his eyes closed until he’s lightheaded, but at least the ringing in his ears stops.

He pulls his knees up and knocks his head back against the wall behind him. The sharp pain allows him to focus more, so he dares opening his eyes and looking around the room.

The patient that had come straight from his nightmares has been rolled somewhere else, so Levi is left staring at the back of a familiar head of black hair. Link’s disappointed face is staring back at him from right next to Nico. They’re both busy cracking a poor woman’s bones.

Levi wants to cry for a second, but then a loud laugh bubbles up from deep into his chest, and suddenly he’s the crazy person laughing by himself, sitting on the floor in the corner of a E.R. A few people turn their heads to look at him weird, but he couldn’t care less right now.

He laughs and laughs, until Nico finally notices the way Link has been jabbing his elbow in his side for a while and follows the direction in which he keeps tilting his head. Levi laughs until he doesn’t anymore, Nico’s face falling and then turning to anger in just one movement.

“What the-“ Nico starts, walking over to Levi’s corner and crouching in front of him.

“I did something dumb,” Levi interrupts him.

Nico sighs and looks like he wants to properly yell at him, but he chuckles instead. He shakes his head and laughs louder and louder, until soon they’re both the crazy person laughing on the floor, grasping each other’s clothes and faces desperately.

“You’re impossible,” Nico whispers, forehead pressed against Levi’s.

“I’m sorry,” Levi dries the single tear that had fallen down his cheek, still laughing. “I was going crazy all by myself.”

“You’re gonna make _me_ go crazy.”

He quickly leans in to drop a kiss on Levi’s lips, then grabs him by the shoulders and helps him stand up. The screaming and general freaking out has calmed down a lot, just a few people still in the beds, and even less doctors finishing up with them. Link is still looking at him with an unimpressed eyebrow raised, though.

“Go home, both of you,” he says, nodding his head towards the door.

“You sure?” Nico asks him.

“I’m sure,” Link walks over to them. “But if I see you in here again before you’re cleared…”

He leaves the threat open to interpretation, but he raises one hand up to Levi’s head and ruffles his hair. Nico looks between them with somewhat of a proud expression, then grabs Levi’s hand and starts leading him away.

Levi hates that his first instinct is to look around and check that nobody’s looking at them. He catches Nico’s eye and reads the same thought on his face, and it somehow doesn’t feel as bad when it’s shared.

He squeezes Nico’s hand and he squeezes back. Link sends them off with a hard slap on Nico’s back, and they walk out of the hospital for the second time that day.

“Let’s try this again, shall we?” Nico raises one eyebrow.

Levi has the decency of staying quiet. Instead, he takes a deep breath and nods, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and telling himself that it’s okay. His only plan for the moment is to finally take that nap.

**Author's Note:**

> This just needed to happen, okay? I didn't want to put poor Levi through more, but he needed to lol  
> All jokes aside, I had literally been thinking and writing bits and pieces of this for months! So happy I finally finished it.
> 
> If you liked this, let me know with a comment or hit me up on [Tumblr](https://shesbreathless.tumblr.com/)! <3


End file.
